Advisors urge improved sex ed to protect minors

Better protection for minors in education and legal systems is needed after 125 cases of sexual assaults on children were reported in 2013, said members of National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

There were 125 cases of sexual assaults on children exposed in 2013, with one case every three days. Of the 419 victims, 81.59 percent were children between 8 and 14, according to a report published on Sunday at a symposium on protecting minors, The Beijing News reported Monday.

According to the report, a survey which included 114 teachers and 454 primary school students in seven different regions showed that over 60 percent of children did not know what sex education is and 45 percent of teachers polled said they had never talked about sex with children.

The absence of sex education for children is a major cause of the frequent child abuse cases, said Zhu Zhengfu, a political advisor and vice president of China's National Bar Association at the symposium.

Political advisors proposed including sex education in the nine-year compulsory education curriculum and the introduction of teaching materials about sexual assaults.

"What we should teach children about sex matters the most in the education," Chu Zhaohui, a research fellow from the National Institute of Education Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday, adding that it will be a tricky issue to decide on the content.

He warned that if the course included too many details about sexual assault, children may be left with a bad impression of sex.

According to the report, there were 33 cases in which teachers were offenders, and 10 cases involving principals.

"Many cases happened in remote rural areas and the offenders are teachers aged over 30," Chu said, adding that the protection of "left-behind children," whose parents are migrant workers, is more urgent.

Chu believes that parents should live with children to provide sufficient care and protect them from being tempted by others.

"It will be more direct and effective for parents to teach their kids more about sex," Chu noted.

Besides education, political advisors called for a better legal environment for child protection, and urged the crime of soliciting underage prostitutes to be abolished.

In December 2013, the Supreme People's Court showed support for the appeal for the abolition of the crime from a deputy to the 12th National People's Congress.